With more than two million page views and more than 4,500 items, this blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The California stem
cell agency today took to the Internet to conduct a nearly hour-long video briefing
concerning the state of stem cell treatments for spinal cord injury.

The Google Hangout event featured Jane Lebkowski, president
of research and development for Asterias Biotherapeutics of Menlo Park, Ca., which
is involved in an early stage clinical trial for a human embryonic stem cell
therapy.

The firm is backed by $14.3 million from the stem cell
agency. Asterias is carrying forward the Geron spinal cord trial, which that company
abandoned for financial reasons. Asterias expects to enroll more patients next
year.

She and Kevin Whittlesey, a science officer with the state
agency, discussed the multiple stem cell approaches involving spinal injuries
that have surfaced since Geron began the first trial with human embryonic stem
cells in 2010.

Lebkowski said that first stage of her firm’s trials
demonstrated the initial safety of the treatment. She also said it showed some
evidence of “preferential restoration” and “prevention of further
deterioration.” The patients involved were treated less than a month after
their injuries.

Whittlesey gave an overview of other research around the
country. He commented on a case in Poland in which one paralyzed man is
reportedly now walking with the help of a walker following treatment with cells
from his nasal cavity. The cells were extracted by going in through his skull.

Whittlesey said that it is “hard to draw any conclusions
from this one patient.” He said the man “enjoyed significant benefit.” However,
he said that it is not possible to attribute the benefits entirely to the cell
treatment because the experiment was not scientifically controlled.

California’s stem cell agency has put together a healthy
portfolio of Webinars, You Tube videos and Google Hangouts involving a wide
range of issues. It is all part of its effort to inform the public and spread
good news about its $3 billion program.

However, today’s effort demonstrated the difficulty in
drawing an audience. Spinal cord injuries affect as many as an estimated 332,000
persons in this country. Despite
promotion online, in the social media and notices in some publications, only 39 persons checked in for today’s Hang Out.

Kevin McCormack, who hosted the event and who is the
director of communications for the agency, said that it is pretty much the
pattern for these sort of events. The payoff, he said, is the 1,000 or more
viewers that are picked up as people go to You Tube to view the video event. We
might add that the information is current, authoritative and useful, although
at times a tad technical for non-scientists.

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.